Artist Darrin White's research for a project exploring hate and intolerance revealed some intriguing insights.

"People who are vociferously verbalizing hatred and intolerance seem to share a common facial expression and this holds true across age, gender and racial divides," says a release.

Beyond the frown lines and the pinched eyes, one can see a startlingly similar mouth shape, almost a rectangle, with the lower lip often pushed aggressively forward. The look is the same on the faces of a young male skinhead yelling at a demonstration, a Black Panther with his fist raised, a white woman screaming at a high-school-aged black girl at the initiation of the integration of schools in the American south and an Asian man protesting the activities of the Falun Gong.

This likeness is ironic considering that human feelings ofhatred and intolerance are directed towards others - people who, generally speaking, have more similarities to us than differences from us.

This irony is just one aspect of hate and intolerance White is exploring through drawings and sculpture during his time as the P.E.I. Council of the Arts artist-in-residence.

The public is invited to visit him and discuss the work in progress until Jan. 31 during the artist's open studio hours: Monday and Tuesday, 1- 5 p.m.; Wednesday to Friday, noon- 2:15 p.m.; and by chance after 3:30 p.m. from Wednesday to Friday and on weekends. To make an appointment, email him at darringwhite@gmail.com.

Hello Everyone. I'm Darrin, the artist in question. Indeed, I'm not trying to equate any one group with any other group, whether neo-nazi, black panther, islamic fundamentalist etc. What I was trying to equate was the expression, in the physical sense, of common facial features, that seems to cross religions, ideas, factions, political parties, etc.

It was, in the end, an all to easy face to find, independent, it seems, of era, or race, or ultimate goal.

In the end, as it was an residency that was open to the public, it was a very engaging experience, discussing the notion/expressions of human hate with high school students, with senior citizens, with ESL students, etc.

Lastly, thank you for your comments as well. Even the short exchange about whether or not it was the 60's version of the black panthers or the current version helps to further illuminate general understanding of the problems of hate in contemporary society, which was, of course, the point.

If the work ends up in a show, I will certainly let the ARC collective know about it.

The ARC Collective

Mission Statement

A group of diverse but like-minded individuals, the members of ARC have come together in their common desire to fight hatred, bigotry, intolerance and violence because of the harm these antisocial behaviors cause to our society. In that effort, we will not use or sanction the use of illegal actions (such as violence or intimidation) in pursuit of our desired aims and if we learn of anyone who does use these unethical methods we will report those individuals to the authorities. Instead, we will use the guarantees found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that ensure freedom of legal speech and expression.

For Those Who Wish To Contact Us

Our contact email is arc(dot)collective200(at)gmail(dot)com for anyone interested in getting in touch with us.

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At age 16, Elisa Hategan was an alienated runaway who became recruited into Canada's most powerful white supremacist movement, the Heritage Front. She was groomed by top leaders to become a rising star of the extremist far-right movement. An errand girl for notorious Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, she was a witness to the illicit activities of an undercover CSIS agent and co-founder of the Heritage Front. At age 18, she turned against the group and spied on them for several months before testifying in court and going into hiding.